The Cure
by Songbook12
Summary: For a dying world. For happiness. For sanity. The higher the risk the farther the fall, though, so the sane should proceed with caution and all those otherwise... brashness is key.
1. Prologue

**Prooologue! Special messenger in the first chapter!**

**Disclaimer- Disclaimed.**

**PS- This prologue has somebody die. NOBODY IS ACTUALLY DEAD YET!**

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The Cure

Prologue

White washed walls. Blue blankets. Three sleeping girls. Three green, balefully bleeping machines.

One shrill, endless tone sounded.

Nurses with white and red uniforms rushing around the middle bed. Doctors running in, family members and friends dragged out of the room, protesting loudly, tears leaving tracks down pale, sunken cheeks.

Two stirring girls. Two green, balefully bleeping machines.

Prologue Fin

Next Chapter:

Chapter 1- To Save A World- Heroism

Aesir Norse

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**I like prologues.**

**Once again, nobody's dead. (Not yet, at least).**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!**

**~Songbook12**


	2. To Save a World- Heroism

**Hey guys! First, an apology- For the few people reading Porcelain- That story is currently on hiatus, for a GREAT reason. My best friend Clara's birthday is coming up, and I'm writing this story as well as another one for her. I'm really sorry... Second, I need you guys to help me. If you see ANY mistakes (grammar, spelling or otherwise) please point it out to me! I need this to be PERFECT for her! PEEEERFECT! **

**I apologize once more... But please help me out. Please. (BTW- this infamous Clara- which isn't her real name- is known as Clara-bear6. So go check out her story! It's real good!)**

**On to the story!**

**Disclaimer-I don't own anything from OUaT blah blah blah. Blah.**

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Chapter 1- To Save A World- Heroism

Aesir Norse

A thin, gaunt figure sat up from the pile of broken glass. Her dirt-smeared face and sunken eyes peered out from behind long, raggedy brown bangs. She wore thin but sturdy-looking metal shoulder pads, iron boots, chest plates, and black gloves. There was an empty weapon holster on her left hip; strangely enough, the gun was shoved in the back pocket of her jeans. You could just see the hilt of a knife in her boots if you looked hard enough.

A pale hand riddled with thin, white scars reached up to tuck the offending hairs behind her ears. She took a few cautious and surprisingly soft steps forward. To any onlooker, it would appear that she had taken a misstep. A portal opened in the ground and a girl exploded from it, coughing and kneeling on leaf covered jungle floor.

The girl had dark auburn locks, pale, dead fish-eyes and a slightly curvy figure. The armored girl sized the other girl up while the fish-eyed teen stared mournfully at the ground.

The armored girl stuck her hand out and introduced herself, "Norse. Aesir Norse."

Aesir waited patiently as the other girl slowly extended her hand and unhappily murmured, "Grayson Rose. You can call me Rosey." Rosey spoke slowly, with a practiced sound to her words, an almost knee-jerk reaction.

Aesir walked past the girl, a handful of footprints lightly embedding themselves in the ground before she turned as asked, "Are you here for the cure, then, as well?"

Rosey blinked and Aesir felt a small swell of pride from eliciting the look of surprise on Rosey's face: she already knew emotions wouldn't be seen often on Rosey's apathetic countenance.

"Yes," she responded, her words carrying the slight tearful tremor that Aesir was quickly starting to associate with the girl.

Aesir nodded, "We might as well help each other."

Rosey nodded slowly, but not reluctantly, before following Aesir farther into the forbidding jungle without question.

"...What's your cure for, anyway?" Aesir inquired, looking over her shoulder briefly at Rosey. When she was met with silence, she was filled with the sudden need to fill it. "Alright, I'll go first. I mean, you don't have to tell me, but... I'm from Norborough. We've got a big war goin' on back home. Ever heard of the zombie apocalypse?" she paused to see if Rosey would answer, "That's kinda what's goin' on. We've got people coming down with all sorts of shit. We've got people who turn into zombie-things, people who get bit and just die, and strange diseases that just destroy the people who get sick. No cures for any of them, nothing to slow the process, no nothing. Not only that, but any placed that isn't overrun by zombies or full of rotting sick people is war-torn by soldiers like me, and gangs. So, I heard of a place where I could find a cure. And I came."

The only sound was of Rosey's lightly thudding footfalls. Then she spoke, "I just came to forget something... My to-be-fiancée, he was..." she choked on her words a little, forcing them out in a tightly controlled voice, "He was killed while shopping for a ring... an armed robbery."

"I'm sorry, Rosey, I... I can't say I understand. I never had time to have someone like that. But... If I did, I'm sure he wouldn't want me to be so sad about him. Then, I'm sure he wouldn't want me to forget either."

Shortly after, they stumbled upon a girl whom appeared to be having a tea party with a small rabbit and dead bird. The rabbit's foot was missing, just a bloody stump remaining.

The girl was cheerfully humming to herself as she poured some scarlet colored liquid into her cup.

"..." Aesir hesitated before finally stepping towards the little tea table and softly greeting her, "Hello. Who are you?"

The girl looked up, her piercing but faded jade colored eyes distant and clouded. Her platinum blond braids fell over her shoulders. Aesir's stomach clenched when she recognized the flecks of blood adorning half of her face and staining her braids scarlet near the ends.

"Who are _you?_" she grinned a little, her demeaning then changing ever so slightly as she then greeted them, "Good morning, I'm Tessie. Who are you?" She blinked owlishly.

"I am Aesir, and this is Rosey." Aesir introduced herself and the other girl to Tessie.

"Pleased to make your meeting. Tea?" Suddenly she dropped the pot with a clash, causing the poor rabbit to flinch and wiggle in its chair.

"This isn't tea!" she shrieked, outraged. Aesir took a moment to ponder on what she took the red liquid to be, anyways. Cranberry juice? Pomegranate soda? Red mojito?

She turned to her rabbit and apologized profusely for 'the great inconvenience she had caused him'.

Aesir cleared her throat, "Would you like to come with us? To find the cures, I mean," Rosey nodded in reluctant agreement and Aesir turned to her, assessing to subtle shift in her mood.

Tessie grinned widely, "Of course!" she picked up and the rabbit and walked over to them, still grinning madly.

Aesir decided that her grin was not something she liked. It was too big and showed all of her sharp, pearly whites. Her eyes were too big, the whites of her eyes to small and slim rings.

They traveled through the jungle, Aesir leading, then Tessie, and then Rosey. As they walked, Tessie chattering amicably with her rabbit and filling the silence, destroying it before it could even start to fall over the small group.

Night fell and the rays of light that helped them see the protruding roots and stones that could trip them up dissipated quite suddenly.

"Maybe we should make camp, stop for tonight. We've been walking for awhile and I'm sure everyone is tired."

I built a fire, while Rosey dragged logs and Tessie painstakingly and slowly built a lovely, strong-looking tent.

Tessie sat down immediately under the tent, while Rosey and I sat on a log near the fire.

Rosey looked over her shoulder at Tessie, who was still coated in blood. She was stroking Phillip as talking to him softly. I doubt she noticed it- I commented on something she had said to Phillip and she looked at me like I was crazy and asked what I had meant.

"She's a nutter. We shouldn't bring her with us, she'll probably get us killed." Rosey muttered depravedly, the fire not being the only thing burning in her eyes.

I turned to her and said sharply, "She's just a kid! Look at her, a little girl with her bunny."

Grayson jumped up, pointing at Tessie and Phillip, "A _little girl?! _Is _that _what you think she is?! Look at her! She's coated in BLOOD, for God's sake! It's in her hair, her clothes, all over her face! And her little bunny? Its foot was RIPPED OFF! Knowing that 'little girl', she was probably the one who did it!" Grayson yelled angrily.

Tessie stared at me.

"Look, we should all just calm down and go to sleep. It's getting late, and its safe to say our nerves are a little… frazzled." I spoke at last, gesturing a little with my hands.

The next morning, we walked and walked, spending only a short amount of time hunting for food and picking berries.

Night fell once more, and the ground roots blurred into the ground and the sun disappeared behind heavy clouds. However, the swift fall of darkness made it easier for them to see the fire that they would've missed before.

Tessie gasped, her perky spirit long since returned, "Look, Phillip! Lookie~ There's a _fire!_" she joyfully exclaimed. Aesir's head whipped around so fast that she might suffer from whiplash. The fire glinted through the gaps in the branches.

Aesir pointed towards the fire, "Good job, Tess. C'mon, let's go over there." She then pushed through the branches, pulling a low one back and holding it for the other two girls. Tessie tripped through the jungle happily, followed closely by Aesir and Rosey, who was glaring at the receding girl's back.

Aesir laid a heavy hand on Rosey's shoulder, "Calm, girl." She smiled reassuringly down at her; something in her mind telling her there was a good bit of bad blood going on here that Rosey was associating Tessie with.

Walking out into the clearing, Aesir was immediately stopped by a dagger being held at her throat. Her hands went up and linked behind her head, "Whoa there, man, we aren't here to harm anyone. Just wanted to see if anyone could help us. We saw the fire and figured..." she trailed off as a boy walked forwards- tall with raggedly blond hair poking out from underneath his hood.

He motioned with his hand and the knife dropped from her throat and Tessie's loud complaints died down as the boys backed away from her.

Rosey stayed silent.

"Follow me," he said monotonously and Aesir looked back at the two girls and nodded before following him.

The boy, whose name Aesir learned was Felix, led them to a large tree house where his 'leader' resided.

"I had a leader back home."

"What happened?" Rosey asked, probably out of politeness.

Aesir cleared her throat, "He was assassinated. Bled out on my shirt and everything. He told me to come here."

"Oh."

Their little walk ended when they reached the base of the tree house and Felix motioned towards the ladder. Aesir climbed up first, then Felix pushed in front of Tessie and climbed after Aesir, then Tessie and Rosey.

Aesir opened the hatch for the trap door of the tree house and pulled herself up, Felix following closely after her. A tall, light brown haired boy sat on a hammock near an open window, playing panpipes idly.

Felix walked over to him and said something before the taller boy stood up and walked towards him. Just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by a loud cry-

"Aesir!" Tessie wailed, "Rosey hit Phillip!"

Looking down the hole in the floor, Aesir saw Tessie clutching Phillip, what she identified as her dwarf hotot bunny-friend, and Rosey glaring heatedly at her. Aesir sighed and smiled apologetically at Felix and the other boy before calling down to them, "Rosey, don't hit Phillip, Tessie, please, just bring yourself and Phillip up here. And try not to kill each other while you're at it."

She stood back up and turned to the boy, who was looking at her amusedly, "They friends of yours or something?"

Aesir shrugged, "Just met them today. We help each other. Looking for the same sort of thing and all."

Rosey pulled herself up from the ladder with a grunt and glared down at the forest floor, "She's not coming up, she says that it might hurt Phillip, stupid little-" she turned to Peter and her features froze, her mouth hanging comically wide. Aesir gave her a nudge and raised a hand to her jaw, pushing it up gently.

Rosey's eyes were locked on Peter with something akin to shock in her lifeless eyes.

He smirked, "Peter. Peter Pan. Now," he turned back to Aesir, brushing off the shocked girl, "What did you say you were here for?"

"The cure- well, _a_ cure, something I'd heard about. It's supposed to help my people- my world." I told him.

He raised an eyebrow; "You're all here for the same thing?"

I shook my head, "No, no, I was told that the cures would manifest according to the person's need. I'm for a cure for the sickness my people are suffering from, she needs a- a memory wipe or something, and I think Tessie needs something for, I dunno, either Phillip's foot or for a return to the land of the sane."

He took another lazy step forwards, "So, where'd you here about the cures?"

"The leader of my legion told me to go get the cure from here before he died. Said that if I got it, we could duplicate it and get rid of our problem back home."

He nodded, a small smirk twisting his lips, "I'll help, on one condition." I nodded,

"Alright, what's your 'condition'?" Aesir asked, crossing her armored arms across her chest.

"You tell me how you and your friends got here."

Aesir blinked, then laughed, "Wow, cures must be pretty goddamn easy to come by out here. I came through a mirror, what about you, Rosey?"

She shrugged, "I don't care enough to remember..."

Sighing, I turned and walked back towards the hole and called down to Tessie, "Tess, how'd ya get here? To the island."

"I fell asleep!" Tessie shouted gleefully. I turned back to Peter and shrugged, "She says she fell asleep. Dunno what she means, but... I'm sure it's pretty damn literal and I'll slap myself for not getting it earlier."

Peter chuckled, "Maybe you and... _Rosey_... should think a little harder."

Bristling, I snapped, "What, Tessie says she fell asleep and that's more plausible than me coming through a _mirror?_"

He nodded, "Precisely."

I glared at him, "I'll prove it to you. Hold on a bit."

As I walked through the jungle, having left Rosey, Tessie and Phillip back at the camp, I wondered how long it would take for us to get our cures. I mean, my world, as tough as they people there were, couldn't last forever against more than three incurable, violently terminal diseases.

And I couldn't hold out forever, either.

Violently, incurably terminal.

"Peter!"

Peter turned to see Aesir jogging back into camp, her short, brown hair swaying due to its shortness, though her bangs were down to her chin, framing her thin face.

"I got it!" I waved the large shard of glass, thankful for my sturdy, bulletproof gloves.

I slowed down to a walk and handed him the piece of glass, "See? I went through this, but it broke after I got through."

Peter examined the glass, turning it over in his bare hand and yet not cut or scraped. "Well," he started, "Looks like you came through the Looking Glass," He smiled, "not only that, but you're imagination is far more... active, than I originally thought it to be."

I gave him a look, throwing my hands in the air, "I give up. Never mind the fact that I just _gave you my portal_ and all. Who cares, right?"

He chuckled.

She sighed.

"Can we just go now?"

"Sure, Aesir."

"So, this is it, then." Aesir said, looking over to Peter.

He smirked, "This is it," he paused, "You don't sound to impressed."

Aesir looked a little dubious, "What, are you trying to impress me or something?"

He chuckled a little, but said nothing to that, only motioning for her to follow him farther into the cave. Aesir, Tessie, Phillip, and Rosey followed closely behind. Aesir spotted something- a row of not yet rotted corpses, propped up against the wall. There was one that appeared to be a boy, a child of one of the women next to him. There were eight larger bodies there as well, four of which were to be women.

"What happened to them?" she inquired. "They look frozen. Like they haven't even gotten a chance to rot."

Peter smiled a twisted, maniacal smile that I hadn't yet seen on his face, and he glanced meaningfully at Rosey, "Their hearts broke," he commented casually, "And thus, stopped beating."

Rosey made and strangled noise and ran ahead of the group. Tessie shook her head at Peter and said something to Phillip.

We entered a large room with a high, arching ceiling with glowing spear-like columns protruding from the floor and connecting to the ceiling

In the center of the room, there was a little stage-like thing. On it were three stands. Each held a special item.

Aesir stepped towards an amber vial.

Chapter 1 Fin

Next Chapter:

Chapter 2- To Save A Heart- Heartbreak

Grayson Rose

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**Did you see any mistakes?! Please tell me!**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!**

**~Songbook12**


	3. To Save a Heart- Heartbreak

**Hey guys! Just for the record, I added a scene to Chapter 1. It's pretty short and near the end...**

**Also- as the story goes on, you'll see that the chapters told by different people will be told different ways and hold different scenes, or sometimes the same scenes. This is because the length, descriptiveness, etc. depends on how much the scene affected them.**

**yup!**

**Disclaimed.**

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Chapter 2- To Save A Heart- Heartbreak

Grayson Rose

I don't know how I got here. Not really.

I don't know if I care.

Grayson 'Rosey' Rose, who fell into the clutches of teenage angst and heartbreak, all over of sweetheart of a guy- the most popular guy in school, mind you- whose name was Calem. Naturally, she refused to go out with him: he'd gone out with her friend's best friend. So not cool.

Other than the two's messy breakup, his track record was clean. Soon enough, Rosey tired of his persistence and talked to his other girlfriends for... permission, if you will. His past girlfriends begrudgingly gave their stamp of approval.

And Rosey decided to give him a chance.

In the end, Calem and her were about to get engaged after 4 years of dating with no breakups or major problems. She was so happy- she was going to be with the person she loved at long last.

Calem was murdered in an armed robbery while trying to buy her engagement ring.

Rosey fell into depression over this. She went to live with some old friends of her with an apartment as far as she could from the house she and Calem had picked out.

Her friends were polar opposites. One was an eighteen year-old girl. She was serious, calm, and oozed equanimity and poise. Just being around her made Rosey feel like she was becoming smarter and kinder. The other friend was a happy-go-lucky seventeen-year-old girl, the baby of the trio, with an energetic disposition and the tendency to charge right into things without thinking anything through. Surprisingly, the two girls got along famously.

She stayed with them until she woke up in this dreamland, filled with the color of Calem's eyes (forest green) and the amazing sense of being alone.

Then she stumbled upon Aesir- or rather, Aesir stumbled upon her. Aesir invite her to look for the cure with her.

Rosey hadn't even realized she was looking for anything until Aesir mentioned it.

But she was.

Aesir reminded her so much of her dearest friend. And Calem. Maybe that's why it was so hard to look at the girl, with the same heroic nature and the same understanding mien. I didn't like to look at her.

I couldn't look her in the eye.

When we met Tessie, all I could think of was how erratic and sporadic her motions and thoughts seemed to be.

And how she followed Aesir without question.

How she would laugh at the sight of the small, silvery jungle cats attempting to catch the small, blue fish and she thought of Calem.

(But she also thought of Calem's killer.)

But what reminded her most of Calem, though, was Peter, the spitting image of Calem. He was so different, though, it made her heart hurt to look at him. Even so, she'd sooner ask thoughtful, serious Aesir to _marry_ her than talk to Peter.

That didn't stop the small twinge of jealously when she saw how much more attention Peter paid to heroic brunette than he did to her and Tessie. The splinters of pain still dug maliciously into her fragmented heart.

I didn't blame Aesir for acting so much like him.

I didn't blame Peter for looking so much like him.

I did, however, hate Tessie, though, for acting so much like his killer.

Speaking of Tessie...

"Tessie, just climb the ladder!" I snapped, a sliver of emotion glowing brightly in my heart, thus being pumped through my cold, torpid blood, heating it and making my skin bloom a light pinkish color in parts.

"No! I'm not leaving Phillip!" she cried stubbornly, cuddling the rabbit even closer to her chest.

I sighed, covering my eyes and forehead as they I was shielding my eyes from the sun, "You don't have to leave Phillip behind, Tessie," I said patiently.

"You're only just saying that!" Tessie shrieked and kicked my shin. I howled out and clutched my swiftly bruising shins. I clawed out at Tessie and she teetered back, my fingers just brushing her collarbone.

Unfortunately for me, my fingers did not 'just brush' Phillip. Oh, no. In fact, if I had hit harder, I might have pulled that poor bunny's ear off.

Tessie gasped and fell backwards. Cuddling Phillip. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Aesir!" Tessie wailed, making my eyes snap open, "Rosey hit Phillip!"

Aesir's head appeared in the empty space of the trapdoor, "Rosey, don't hit Phillip, Tessie, please, just bring yourself and Phillip up here. And try not to kill each other while you're at it," she ordered. I sighed,

"C'mon, Tessie, let's go on up," I motioned towards the ladder, at my wits' end with this immature child.

She simply glared, "I don't want Phillip to get hurt any more."

I sighed again and I heaved myself up the ladder, poking my head up through the trapdoor. I stood and said to Aesir, "She's not coming up, she says that it might hurt Phillip, stupid little-"

I looked up and saw him.

Peter Pan.

I mean, I'd seen him when we first came in. But I was standing behind Aesir, and he didn't even look in my direction.

He was looking in my direction now, though.

I didn't realize my jaw had dropped until Aesir nudged me lightly and gently closed my mouth.

Peter turned away from me to look at her- Aesir.

I couldn't salvage enough emotion to hate her, or even dislike her a little for it. If I was reading her correctly, she didn't even realize what was going on. I only felt shock at his great resemblance to Calem.

I zoned out, thinking about Calem. Calem, Calem, Calem who left me. Poor, poor Calem... my poor Calem... I'll join him soon, no doubt.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Aesir's laugh, "Wow, cures must be pretty goddamn easy to come by out here. I came through a mirror, what about you, Rosey?"

I shrugged, "I don't care enough to remember..."

Sighing, Aesir turned called down to Tessie, "Tess, how'd ya get here? To the island."

"I fell asleep!" Tessie shouted gleefully. Aesir shrugged and said to Peter, "She says she fell asleep. Dunno what she means, but... I'm sure it's pretty damn literal and I'll slap myself for not getting it earlier."

Peter chuckled, "Maybe you and... _Rosey_... should think a little harder."

"What, Tessie says she fell asleep and that's more plausible than me coming through a _mirror?_" Aesir snapped at him.

He nodded, "Precisely."

I glared at him, "I'll prove it to you. Hold on a bit."

Aesir turned and dropped down the trap door. I looked at him blankly, my heart stuttering painfully before I followed her down.

I looked around. Aesir was gone. I looked at Tessie, "Where's Aesir gone off to?" Aesir was the only person I could stand to be around without being in too much pain, emotionally. It's kinda nice to be around someone with the same mind as Calem every once and a while. Feels like he's still around...

Tessie humphed and stalked away with Phillip, who seemed perfectly happy to be around that madwoman.

I could not, for the life of me, understand that bunny's mental standpoint.

We had only been at the camp with for a handful of hours, and the Lost Boys were somewhat neutral to us- not super respective as Aesir seemed to be used to (she just seemed the type, maybe it's the military stereotype- according to her, she was pretty damn high in the world power-standing wise), but not rude.

And yet, once Aesir, who radiated enough power to charge three, large nuclear power plants, was gone- the entire scene changed. The boys sneered and jeered at Tessie and her (until one of them invaded 'Phillip's bubble' and she bit him hard enough to crack a majority of the bones in his hand.

Then she licked up the blood from around her mouth and over her hand.

So, now it was just me being bullied by those ass-hats.

You never realize just how nasty guys can really be until you're in a camp full of not just _ordinary_ rude boys- oh no. This was a camp full of _teenage_, extraordinary _sexist_, and semi-attractive boys. Who haven't seen a girl in (for some cases) over 300 years.

And now we know what life without women is like.

(Bad!)

Dinner was even worse- I'd already habituated to the boy's behavior, but- oh _Gods_, the food! The _smell!_ Even _Tessie_, who was (presumably) drinking blood with a strangled bird with a twisted neck and a stump foot bunny, claimed that Phillip needed to go to the bathroom.

And she never came back until after dinner- after all, bunnies need 'time and space' to do their business.

I'm calling it- bullshit, Tessie, you selfish prick! I know we hate each other and all, but seriously- this surpasses our hatred for each other.

Thankfully, Aesir arrived the next morning, after a night that will never be spoken of, simply to save Aesir from the horror's of these boys' douchebag-ness.

"Hey, Rosey." Aesir slowed down and left Peter as the head of the group, with Tessie and Phillip chattering behind him. Or rather, the *maddening* Tessie babbled on while Phillip sat passively in her arms.

I hummed tonelessly in acknowledgement.

"I know that you don't... well, like Tessie _at all_, but... Try and get along, yeah? We need to work together. We don't really have that much longer together, so just... suck it up, to be blunt."

I stayed silent, just sighing a tiny bit.

She sighed too, a strange _whoosh_ of air that brushed over her pale pink lips, making her sound older than her fair share of years.

"Ya know, you remind me of a someone I knew in my legion. I was always second-in-command, even as a child of 10. Age never really mattered. People never took me seriously- I mean, who takes a short little girl seriously, in any situation. So, when I was 12, a private kept butting heads with some other private- Sochi and Christophe. I tried to get them to cut it out and work together- they were only harming the squad's collaboration.

I let it slide, until we got sabotaged by a group of the infected undead. Because of the two being too busy yelling at each other instead of watching each other's backs, we came out of the fight victorious, but lugging 12 dead bodies, 6 bitten whom needed immediate amputation and medical help, 8 injured, and only 2 people nearly completely unscathed, which was the leader of our group, Aurelian, and myself. One of the dead people was Sochi and one of the amputees was Christophe- neither of the two really won their petty battles, only succeeding in hurting themselves."

Silence reigned over the two until Aesir cleared her throat, "Just something to chew on."

Aesir and Peter were, once again, in the front of the group, quietly talking, heads leaning towards each other, as leaders were known to do. As we entered the Echo Caves, Peter made some gestures to Aesir and I heard her snort doubtfully.

I froze as I saw it, just as Aesir did- row of not yet rotted corpses, propped up against the wall. There was one that appeared to be a boy, a _child_, a little kid! The rest were adults, curled protectively around the child.

"What happened to them?" she inquired. "They look frozen. Like they haven't even gotten a chance to rot."

Peter at me spitefully, "Their hearts broke," he commented casually, "And thus, stopped beating."

I made a little noise, feeling my heart turn to ice and shatter just like those- those _people-_ and raced ahead of Aesir and Peter. Why would he even _say_ something like that! He- those people are lying _dead_ on the ground, propped against the wall like a girl's dolls, and Aesir barely seemed to care, and Peter looked like he was about to laugh about it.

I got into the cave thing before the rest of them and stopped short. I didn't really like the feel of this place... There was something in the middle of the room, a stage of sorts. Three little podiums each had a little, glowing item on it. The one of the middle caught m eye, dragging my gaze and feet towards it. It dulled my senses, erasing the sounds of Aesir, Tessie, Peter and Phillip entering, replacing it with the loud rush of my blood and the pulsing of my heat.

I stepped towards the hooked blade.

Chapter 2 Fin

Next chapter:

Chapter 3- To Save A Mind- Insanity

Tessie

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**Next Chapter is Tessie and Phillip! Yaaaay!**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!**

**~Songbook12**


	4. To Save a Mind- Insanity

**Heylo! How's it goin'? Good? Great!**

**Well.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer- Disclaimed.**

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_Chapter 3- To Save A Mind- Insanity_

_Tessie_

_I_ know how I got here.

I just fell asleep.

That's all.

I fell asleep and awoke here, in the middle of the jungle. I was walking along, along the beaten path, when I saw Phillip. He was stuck in a trap.

"You remind me of a friend of mine," I'd told him. "His name is Phillip. He's a sweetie, but he can't do anything by himself. Anything at all. Always getting into trouble. Looks like you are, too." I'd said as I leaned down to start working on the trap he was stuck in, "I'll call you Phi-"

The stretch of a bow reached my ears, "That's OUR kill." I looked over my shoulder to see who was there. It was one, dirty teenage boy wearing a brown cloak with a notched, wooden bow aimed at me.

I grinned sharply.

There, my vision blurred, static-y and burnt around the edges. I remember blood, high-pitched laughter and screaming.

I wonder who it was.

Then there was a little tweeting, some fluttering, and one small, delicate snap.

When my memories regained some clarity and lucidity, I was sitting at a small wooden table with Phillip sitting across from me, and a small, dead bird with a snapped neck. I smiled crookedly at it and commented offhandedly to Phillip, "Did you know that birds with blue feathers don't actually have blue feathers, the light just reflects off it in a way that makes it seem blue. I read an article on it once."

I leaned across the table, picking up the blood-splattered teapot and poured out two cups of 'tea'.

"I'm sorry about you're foot, by the way. I suppose it was me that did that, wasn't it? I didn't mean to… if it means anything to you."

I lifted up my cup, "Cheers."

I liked talking to Phillip. I'm glad he forgave me, he listened so well. He'd look up at me when I said something stupid or totally implausible and just twitch his ears like, 'Man, I know you got amnesia and all, but that doesn't warrant the intelligence you're currently displaying.'

Phillip was so funny sometimes.

I don't think Grayson liked Phillip. Or me.

Aesir and Grayson were talking, at night before she left, when they thought I couldn't here. Grayson said something to Aesir, and Aesir just turned to her and said so clearly (Aesir spoke clearly, like a general, but nicer. Grayson's words were mumbled and mean) that I could here the words that were harsh and fast, like whip, "She's just a kid! Look at her, a little girl with her bunny."

Grayson jumped up, pointing an accusing finger at me and Phillip, "A _little girl?! _Is _that _what you think she is?! Look at her! She's coated in BLOOD, for God's sake! It's in her hair, her clothes, all over her face! And her little bunny? It's foot was RIPPED OFF! Knowing that 'little girl', she was probably the one who did it!" Grayson yelled angrily.

I stared blankly at Aesir, an odd feeling in my chest surfacing, a twisting and turning of my gut. I felt Grayson's glare settle on me, and Aesir looking passively at me, despite the heated dispute she'd just had in my defense.

"Look, we should all just calm down and go to sleep. It's getting late, and its safe to say our nerves are a little… frazzled."

Grayson snorted, "Yeah, frazzled."

She headed over towards me, then sneered spitefully and went back to lean up against the logs, crossing her arms and settling huffily.

Aesir shook her head with an exasperated, strained chuckle. She sat down next to me, stroking Phillip softly and rubbing him behind his soft, furry ears. His white coat freckled with scarlet. "I'm sorry about her. She's kinda… Something's going on here that we don't know about. And while we can't judge her to harshly because of it, but… you don't deserve her hatred. I hope you know that." she smiled at me, a whisper of a smile that just barely tilted her pale, pink lips up.

She then pulled off her armor and boots, revealing a trim, slightly curvy frame and small feet, arms, and hands under the gloves. She was she covered in black and grey- smaller, black, soft lace-up boots, grey jeans and a black and grey plaid shirt, covered with small trips and parts were the threads were worn so thin that their were little circles showed pale, white skin with even whiter weblike scars.

"Are you wrapped in webs or something?" I asked curiously, "You seem to be covered in little scars." I crushed my fingers together, "Leeetle little webs, all over you."

She smiled, laughing quietly, "Leeetle little indeed, Tessie."

The next morning, I woke up to see Grayson staring grumpily at the remnants of the fire, and Aesir gone from the camp. I carefully walked over to Grayson, only to discover she was still asleep, and just always had 'Little-Miss-Grumpy-Face' all the time. Silly Grayson, hung up over her old, special friend.

"Silly Grayson," I chuckled to Aesir.

My vision began to blur and crackle, just as Grayson started to stir. I stepped towards the girl, my hands clenching and unclenching fiercely, Phillip scrambling to hook his claws in my shirt.

Phillip bit me. Aesir walked into the camp.

My vision cleared and I smiled at Aesir, pulling Phillip back in my arms safely. "Hi, Aesir!" I chirped, walking up to her and sticking close to her side and she walked back into camp.

"Hey, Tessie. Did you and Phillip sleep well?"

I smiled and nodded, petting Phillip lightly. He looked up at me and twitched his noise four times, then shook his left ear once. I then I leaned towards her and whispered, "Phillip says he likes you." I paused as he wiggled his ear again, "And that you have pretty hair."

She chortled a little, then lifted up a small deer and a bag of small, pinkish berries, "Raspberries for you and mint leaves for Phillip, if he wants some. It was all I could find. Also, got some deer I'm gonna fry if you want some."

I crinkled my nose and shook my head; "I'll just take the raspberries, if that's all right."

She laughed and forked over the brown bag of raspberries and mint, then walked over to Grayson and showed her the deer. She gestured a little with her free hand, then pulled a knife out and handed it to Grayson, suddenly procuring another knife and sitting down, setting to skin the creature as Grayson slowly and carefully, with a blank face, worked on gingerly taking off the hoofs.

I fed Phillip a handful of mint leaves and some raspberries, before he simply sniffed before turning away. I shrugged a little and ate the rest of the raspberries one by one, before chewing up all the mint leaves. The fire crackled up suddenly and I looked over to see Aesir roasting the deer, turning it slowly over and over while Grayson just sat at against the logs, staring into the flames.

The camp was nice, the fire was big, and the little boys liked Phillip.

The older boys were mean. I didn't like them, and they didn't like me, because they knew. They knew about something I didn't. They knew something I didn't know. Something involving a boy and a rabbit trap and a knife.

They hated me, but they feared me as well. Not me. Her. The one who did things I couldn't remember.

Her. Not me.

When I left the camp, I really didn't mean to leave for that long. It was an accident. I can't control when it happens.

Once I woke up, I took a bath. I washed Phillip. I washed the body, too.

My hands and arms had been covered in blood and turquoise scales, and Phillip's paws and claws had blood splattered across it.

When I looked at the body in front of me, it was covered in deep cuts on its belly and small, angular slits all over its face and arms.

I had leaned forward to close its eyes and push in into the sea.

Grayson was mad at me for leaving her alone, even though she doesn't like me either.

I left again, during the night. Phillip sat next to me on the sand.

I wanted to find the fish-lady's friend, because I felt bad for family. People think they're guilty because they killed someone, but they're guilty because they know that everyone leaves somebody behind.

I wonder whom Phillip left behind. Maybe I should send him back...

Nah. He'd just get caught in another trap.

Back to the fish-lady's friends...

I stuck my feet in the cool water, waiting for her fishy friends.

A glittering orange-yellow tail slithered out of the water about 15 yards away, accompanied by a light red and gold tail. A pair of black eyes and deep, scarlet locks peeked out of the blackish water.

I waved slowly.

The head disappeared.

To my utter shock, two fish-people pulled themselves out of the water; hand over hand, their long, beautiful tails making strange, deep indentations in the soft sand. They stopped just in front of me, staring at me with pale, pretty faces and big, black eyes.

For a long moment, we all just looked at each other.

"I'm sorry about you're friend. It was an accident."

They nodded, "You gave her back."

I nodded.

They turned and left.

When I finally returned to the camp, it was almost morning. I crawled over to Grayson's bedroll, where she was sound asleep, and sat under the makeshift tent.

I hesitated before sitting down.

I pulled my bedroll out from the tent and slept under a tree.

When I woke up, it was to Aesir smiling down at me, encased in a halo of golden sunlight, "Hey, Sleeping Beauty. Get a good night's sleep?" she teased. I smiled and nodded, my blond braids bobbing lightly.

I sat up and picked up Phillip. He wiggled his nose at me.

"Are we leaving now?" I yawned blearily. She chuckled, "Yup. Let's go, Peter says we should be there just past lunchtime, so if you don't eat quickly, then you'll have to wait a long while to get food." She told me.

"Damn straight," Grayson glowered at me from behind Aesir.

'Man, the only emotion I've **ever** seen on that chick's face is either resentment or annoyance. Guess heartbroken people can never really be happy again.' Phillip shook his head at me and I chuckled. Phillip is smart.

"Am I missing something?" Aesir murmured amusedly, the corner of her mouth tilting upwards in a crooked smile.

I repeated Phillip's words (with a little tweaking), "I don't understand you and Grayson. You live in a post-apocalyptic- well, _still_ apocalyptic world and everyone is sick and dying around you, and you're happy. Grayson is living in a _good_ world and she's angry at everything."

Aesir shook her head, the smile slipping on her face and cracking on the forest floor. "No, Tess, no, that's not... true. I live in that world, but we're still fighting. We have something to _fight_ for. We have _hope_, that we can fix this. Rosey doesn't have that.

Rosey's problem, it isn't one that can be fixed with- with, a vaccine or a shot. It's gonna be there forever, and even if it heals, there are gonna be big scars. She'll never live a day without that... that burden, that pain. It's never gonna go away, and she's angry because she knows that. Anger is all she's got left. Any other emotion is too foreign, too dangerous for her." Aesir looked over to the girl, who was, as she was known to do, staring into the fire with this blank, empty look on her face that made my stomach twist uncomfortably. Her eyes looked dead.

Like the mermaids.

"She's never gonna fully recover from that." Aesir turned around and smiled grimly, "The only thing we can do is try to be understanding."

Walking into that cave behind Peter, Aesir, and Grayson, I just got this horrible feeling in my gut, like something was going to go wrong here.

I stepped towards the jar, Phillip falling out of my arms and disappearing into the ground- not that I noticed at the time.

_Chapter 3 Fin_

_Next chapter:_

_Chapter 4- Death and Heroism_

_Aesir Norse_

* * *

**Tessie knows how she got here. Tessie's pretty goddamn smart=)**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!  
~Songbook12**


	5. Death and Heroism

**Chapter 4- Death and Heroism**

**Aesir Norse**

I stepped towards an amber vial.

This was it. This was **it.**

The cure. The cure that would fix my home, restore peace to my people- hell, my entire _planet._ If we know what this is, analyze the strains of chemicals that make this cure, we can duplicate it!

(I will not allow myself to think that it's made of things we can't procure, not after I've come this far.)

My single step turned into two, into three, into four, into a light jog, into a run, into a sprint as I raced for the cure that I'd been wishing on shooting stars and rare helicopters and airplanes for since my first coherent thoughts. My fingers closed around the vial and I turned around, victorious, already basking in my triumph-

Until I caught sight of the items on the other pedestals. One seemed to be a perfectly innocent jar of smelling salts (What the hell? I'd wonder about it later, I decided), but the other. The other pedestal, the other 'cure'.

A blade.

A wickedly sharp, serrated, aquiline knife lying on that flat, stone surface, all innocence and well-meaning curiosity.

My gloved hand closed around the hilt over a wider, tanner one. I looked up into the dead grey eyes of Rosey.

"Rosey?" I questioned, hearing Tessie run up behind us and grab her jar of salts (seriously, the hell are those for?) before standing, loyal as ever, behind me.

"What's _that?_" Tessie yelped, staring at the long, six-inch obsidian blade that my gloved thumb rested against.

Rosey glared at her, and then stared beseechingly at Aesir.

My spine straightened so suddenly; like it was shocked straight by a strong shock of electricity. "Do you mean to say," I started slowly, my eyes cold and calculating, "that _this _is your..." I paused, my lips curling down in a cruel-cut frown, "**_cure?!_**"

Rosey's head tilted up, staring at the girl in desolate defiantly. "Yes. That _is_ what I mean to say. Is that a problem, Aesir?"

I snarled, "_Yes_. It _is_, because you're _choosing_ to _commit suicide-_ unless, of course, you were planning to murder someone?"

Rosey simply stared with her dead, grey eyes.

Taking one step forwards, I leaned into her face, staring down at her with my extra inch on her, "I hope you know- that's more than my people _ever_ got, and you're going to throw it away because you _miss your boyfriend?!_ Do you _really _think he'd want you to just _stop living_ because of this? I think, if he truly loved you, he'd want you to survive. He'd want you to keep living, not just give up, and what are you doing? Giving up!"

A misty film of tears covered her stony eyes, "I miss him so much..."

"This isn't the answer, Rosey," I said softly, gently pulling the knife out of Rosey's pliant hands.

Ever Aesir, with all the intellectual prowess she possessed, could not have predicted the following events.

Rosey's eyes flashed with the same fire the lit her ashen eyes whenever she looked at Tessie and she let out a small screech and jerked her arm towards her she slashed at Aesir's face.

With all of Rosey's smarts, she couldn't have anticipated Aesir dodging it and leaning forwards slightly as she prepared to lunge forwards and take the knife.

Rosey's jagged knife sunk deep into Aesir's chest, straight through her armor.

A gasp slipped past my lips. My hands involuntarily reached up, grasping the already disintegrating hilt of the blade. I watched passively, emotionlessly as the fragmentation spread through my chest, dissolving my armor and clothes, leaving a gaping hole that one could put their entire head through. It spread through my entire body and I looked up, meeting Tessie and Rosey's eyes as my senses dulled. My face dissolved like super in water. As I lost my sight, the small part of my brain still working dully noted as I lost the feel of Tessie's tears dripping onto the remainder of my face that when I lost sight, it didn't turn black. It just… left.

**Chapter 4 Fin **

**Next chapter:**

**Chapter 5- Death and Insanity**

******Grayson Rose**

* * *

**I cried a lot writing the ending of this story...**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!**

**~Songbook12**


	6. Death and Insanity

**Chapter 6- Death and Heartbreak**

**Tessie**

The jar of salts sat tantalizingly on its pedestal. I rushed over Aesir and Rosey and swiped mine off the pedestal. Smelling salts.

"What's _that?_" I gasped, ogling the large knife the two girls were holding.

Grayson glared at me. I ignored her, in favor of studying the surroundings in more detail. Peter was grabbing something and was about to leave. He waved at me and I smiled and waved back. He smiled slightly, though it kinda seemed like it was a smile that said 'I know something you don't!' But who knows?

At this point, I couldn't care less. I was going to leave. Phillip and I could go and get some raspberry mint tea, my favorite kind, some raspberry sherbet, too. And we could put hot fudge on top of it. I _really_ liked hot fudge! And Phillip did too! I asked him once, when we went out to get some ice cream, and he didn't even know what it was.

Where _was_ Phillip?

I looked around for Phillip, my eyes scanning over the surroundings curiously. Not in the bottom right-hand corner near the entrance (he likes the bottom right-hand corner), not near the columns, not my the glowing stones, no where.

How did he even get away from me? I know I was holding him, and he never just jumps away... Did I drop him? I hope not. I might have hurt him, what with the stumpy-leg and all. The wound is still semi-fresh. I probably did a shitty job of wrapping and stitching the wound. It probably hurt a lot.

I can't imagine what it must be like... Losing your leg. You must feel so _helpless_. I've hated feeling helpless.

Maybe am I helpless.

One of the meaner doctors who I never got along with called me worthless once (maybe twice). She said that with a condition like mine, I was just handicap for my family. That they'd be better to give me up, leave me behind.

I was twelve then. My whole family was there- my mom and dad, my younger sister, Alice, my twin brother, Aiden, and my older brother, Phillip.

Phillip took Aiden and me who had the same condition as me, except less violent, because my parents tried to leave Aiden and I. Phillip was old enough to legally take care of the two of us.

My disease just makes me violent, if threatened (says Phillip- that one tiny part of me that was hurt by those doctors thinks that many I just liked to hurt people).

Aiden's was fatal.

After that, Phillip and I moved into a smaller apartment. I went to a special school on an 'inventors' scholarship- I could make things really well, but then I'd have to take them apart so I could draw up a blueprint. Kinda time consuming, but it was therapeutic as well- the repetitiveness of the making and unmaking helped with the blackouts, a _much_ nicer doctor told me.

I met Aesir during high school, freshman year. We had algebra, tech, bio, and language together. After figuring out that, not only did I _like_ Aesir, I _listened _to her, Aesir was basically my permanent partner.

Less than a year later, her family was murdered in a bombing of a school that her parents were teachers at and her sibling was attending. She then moved in with us.

Next year, Grayson Rose came to our school and had exactly two hours of classes with us every week, and yet she someone ending up being great friends with the two of us. We all got along- two guys had joined our little group before her- Calem and Russel.

Calem and her started going out almost immediately.

Three years later, at the start of college, Calem proposed to her.

A blond woman then gunned him down in an armed robbery. The police couldn't find any records on her. She had blond hair, blue eyes, sharp features. Looked a lot likeme, except younger.

Later, they squeezed her name out of her. Alice Krux.

Alice.

My little sister liked to call herself 'Krux' after her favorite character in a book. She was a murderer.

I never told Grayson about that.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the sickening, squishy _thump _from behind me.

A gasp brushed over Aesir's pale pink lips as I turned around, just in time to see Rosey stumble back, leaving the knife stuck in Aesir's chest.

My world spun and wobbled, threatening to topple if I breathed out in one big _whoosh!_

I did.

Aesir fell to the ground.

I ran forwards to catch her. I looked down at her, tearing dripping off my chin onto her pale face. The hole in her chest gaped wider and wider, like a big, black cavern. Only with this cavern, you could see straight to the bottom, and below even that. Aesir she looked up at me briefly. Her eyes disintegrated in front of me.

I finally could feel the shaking in my shoulders. I could finally hear the sobs ripping out of my throat.

I could finally stand up.

I grabbed the smelling salts.

I could have stopped this. I could have just shoved it under their noses and we all would've woken up. I could've helped.

**Chapter 6 Fin **

**Next chapter:**

******Grayson Rose's Epilogue**

* * *

**I really have to hate myself. Really do. However, I'm not done yet! Oh no, I have more! In the form of one more epilogue!**

**Review to prove your Loyalty**

**~Songbook12**


	7. Daeth and Heartbreak

**Chapter 6- Death and Heartbreak**

**Tessie**

The jar of salts sat tantalizingly on its pedestal. I rushed over Aesir and Rosey and swiped mine off the pedestal. Smelling salts.

"What's _that?_" I gasped, ogling the large knife the two girls were holding.

Grayson glared at me. I ignored her, in favor of studying the surroundings in more detail. Peter was grabbing something and was about to leave. He waved at me and I smiled and waved back. He smiled slightly, though it kinda seemed like it was a smile that said 'I know something you don't!' But who knows?

At this point, I couldn't care less. I was going to leave. Phillip and I could go and get some raspberry mint tea, my favorite kind, some raspberry sherbet, too. And we could put hot fudge on top of it. I _really_ liked hot fudge! And Phillip did too! I asked him once, when we went out to get some ice cream, and he didn't even know what it was.

Where _was_ Phillip?

I looked around for Phillip, my eyes scanning over the surroundings curiously. Not in the bottom right-hand corner near the entrance (he likes the bottom right-hand corner), not near the columns, not my the glowing stones, no where.

How did he even get away from me? I know I was holding him, and he never just jumps away... Did I drop him? I hope not. I might have hurt him, what with the stumpy-leg and all. The wound is still semi-fresh. I probably did a shitty job of wrapping and stitching the wound. It probably hurt a lot.

I can't imagine what it must be like... Losing your leg. You must feel so _helpless_. I've hated feeling helpless.

Maybe am I helpless.

One of the meaner doctors who I never got along with called me worthless once (maybe twice). She said that with a condition like mine, I was just handicap for my family. That they'd be better to give me up, leave me behind.

I was twelve then. My whole family was there- my mom and dad, my younger sister, Alice, my twin brother, Aiden, and my older brother, Phillip.

Phillip took Aiden and me who had the same condition as me, except less violent, because my parents tried to leave Aiden and I. Phillip was old enough to legally take care of the two of us.

My disease just makes me violent, if threatened (says Phillip- that one tiny part of me that was hurt by those doctors thinks that many I just liked to hurt people).

Aiden's was fatal.

After that, Phillip and I moved into a smaller apartment. I went to a special school on an 'inventors' scholarship- I could make things really well, but then I'd have to take them apart so I could draw up a blueprint. Kinda time consuming, but it was therapeutic as well- the repetitiveness of the making and unmaking helped with the blackouts, a _much_ nicer doctor told me.

I met Aesir during high school, freshman year. We had algebra, tech, bio, and language together. After figuring out that, not only did I _like_ Aesir, I _listened _to her, Aesir was basically my permanent partner.

Less than a year later, her family was murdered in a bombing of a school that her parents were teachers at and her sibling was attending. She then moved in with us.

Next year, Grayson Rose came to our school and had exactly two hours of classes with us every week, and yet she someone ending up being great friends with the two of us. We all got along- two guys had joined our little group before her- Calem and Russel.

Calem and her started going out almost immediately.

Three years later, at the start of college, Calem proposed to her.

A blond woman then gunned him down in an armed robbery. The police couldn't find any records on her. She had blond hair, blue eyes, sharp features. Looked a lot likeme, except younger.

Later, they squeezed her name out of her. Alice Krux.

Alice.

My little sister liked to call herself 'Krux' after her favorite character in a book. She was a murderer.

I never told Grayson about that.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the sickening, squishy _thump _from behind me.

A gasp brushed over Aesir's pale pink lips as I turned around, just in time to see Rosey stumble back, leaving the knife stuck in Aesir's chest.

My world spun and wobbled, threatening to topple if I breathed out in one big _whoosh!_

I did.

Aesir fell to the ground.

I ran forwards to catch her. I looked down at her, tearing dripping off my chin onto her pale face. The hole in her chest gaped wider and wider, like a big, black cavern. Only with this cavern, you could see straight to the bottom, and below even that. Aesir she looked up at me briefly. Her eyes disintegrated in front of me.

I finally could feel the shaking in my shoulders. I could finally hear the sobs ripping out of my throat.

I could finally stand up.

I grabbed the smelling salts.

I could have stopped this. I could have just shoved it under their noses and we all would've woken up. I could've helped.

**Chapter 6 Fin **

**Next chapter:**

******Grayson Rose's Epilogue**

* * *

**I really have to hate myself. Really do. However, I'm not done yet! Oh no, I have more! In the form of one more epilogue!**

**Review to prove your Loyalty**

**~Songbook12**


	8. Grayson Rose's Epilogue

**Grayson Rose's Epilogue**

White washed walls. Blue blankets. Three sleeping girls. Three green, balefully bleeping machines. Each bed had a little description. The bed closest to the door had a little clipboard that read, _Patient name: Grayson Rose. Age: 19 Condition: Coma induced by car crash. _

The bed in the middle read, _Patient name: Aesir Norse. Age: 20 Condition: Sang Lourd Syndrome, fell into a coma after procedure. _

The bed that should have been closest to the window, but was inside pushed up against Aesir's bed read, _Patient name: Tess Quade. Age: 19 Condition: Coma induced by car crash. Amnesia._

One shrill, endless tone sounded.

Nurses with white and red uniforms rushing around the middle bed. Doctors running in, family members (Grayson's) and friends (Aesir's and Tess') dragged out of the room, protesting loudly, tears leaving tracks down pale, sunken cheeks.

Two stirring girls. Two green, balefully bleeping machines.

Rosey slowly sat up, brushing off the doctors.

Tessie stayed laying down, staring balefully at the ceiling. The doctors spent far more time fussing over her, confused as to why she was so mournfully unresponsive. After awhile, they shrugged it off as her just being tired- after all, having a coma isn't really sleeping, per say.

After one last check-in on Rosey, they left the room.

Tessie stayed flat on her bed, eyes glued to the plain ceiling.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. I hadn't meant to- I was scared, I wasn't thinking, it was just a big accident, a big, big accident. If Aesir hadn't tried to take it, none of this would have happened and we all would've been fine.

Tessie was quiet.

Tessie turned over on her side, facing away from the wall. At first, Rosey thought she was looking back at her. She thought Tessie would forgive her easily. Tessie was good like that, she thought. But when she tried to meet her eyes, she saw Tessie staring forlornly at the stripped mattress next to her.

"I'm sorry," Rosey whispered. I hadn't meant to. It was an accident. She was- _was_- my friend too.

Rosey didn't think she'd respond, as nearly a minute had passed, until she heard,

"You took away the little time I had left with her," Tessie murmured without tone.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. I hadn't meant to. It was an accident. She was my friend too.

"I guess I know how you feel now. Whenever you look at me. Except you're really the murderer here." Tessie said in that same blank tone of voice.

"I'm sorry." It was an accident.

But they both knew that no amount of apologies would fix this mess.


	9. Tess Quade's Epilogue

**Tess Quade's Epilogue**

White washed walls. Blue blankets. Three sleeping girls. Three green, balefully bleeping machines. Each bed had a little description. The bed closest to the door had a little clipboard that read, _Patient name: Grayson Rose. Age: 19 Condition: Coma induced by car crash. Familial Relations: Parents- Rose, George and Sarah._

The bed in the middle read, _Patient name: Aesir Norse. Age: 20 Condition: Sang Lourd Syndrome, fell into a coma after procedure. Familial Relations: Deceased._

The bed that should have been closest to the window, but was inside pushed up against Aesir's bed read, _Patient name: Tess Quade. Age: 19 Condition: Coma induced by car crash. Amnesia. Familial Records: Brother- Quade, Phillip._

One shrill, endless tone sounded.

Nurses with white and red uniforms rushing around the middle bed. Doctors running in, family members (Grayson's) and friends (Aesir's and Tess') dragged out of the room, protesting loudly, tears leaving tracks down pale, sunken cheeks.

Two stirring girls. Two green, balefully bleeping machines.

Tessie stared balefully at the ceiling. The doctors looked over her, confused, but eventually decided that she was fine, that she was just tired. That she just needed time.

Maybe they're right.

Tessie stayed flat on her bed, eyes glued to the plain ceiling.

"I'm sorry," Rosey whispered.

I was quiet. I couldn't speak yet. Not so soon. I would've had another few months with her, at least. They told me she would wake up within three months, and I could talk then. And at that point, we could figure out if the procedure worked, or if it failed. They thought it was sure to work, less than a 10% chance of death.

And Rosey took that away.

I turned over on my side, looking sadly at the know empty bed.

"I'm sorry," Rosey whispered.

Rosey took that time away.

"You took away the little time I had left with her," Tessie told her bluntly.

"I'm sorry," Grayson repeated tearfully.

"I guess I know how you feel now. Whenever you look at me. Except you're really the murderer here." I murmured, staring at where Aesir should be. Remembering the gaping hole in Aesir's chest. I looked down.

It felt like Rosey had stabbed me with her knife too.

"I'm sorry." She cried, tears staining her sheets.

It doesn't matter anymore. It won't bring Aesir back.

She didn't deserve it.

She didn't deserve it.

* * *

Tessie just stared at the vacant bed with this blank, empty look on her face. Her eyes looked dead.

Like the mermaids.

**Fin**

* * *

**Yeah, I'm so extraordinarily done with this story.**

**Review to prove your Loyalty!**

**~Songbook12**


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